Scholastics
© 2025 by Walter Reimer

Thumbnail art by  rabbi-tom


Varan’s term at the Fleet Command Academy was designed to last two years, or eight hundred Kashlanin days. After the first ten days, a routine of a sort had begun to develop.

“Greetings, Captain.” Varan looked up from her bowl of resekdhe’ and smiled as Admiral l’Fel approached her table with a meal tray in her hands. “May I sit?” the older vir asked.

“Yes, please,” and Varan touched a napkin to the corners of her mouth. The resekdhe’ wasn’t what her mother would make, but it was palatable. L’Fel’s tray bore sliced fruit, bread and some cold cooked meats, with a glass of henal. “How are you this morning?”

“Better-rested than you are, if I judge correctly,” the Admiral said in a straightforward tone. “You’ve been up early.”

“True, Ma’am.” Varan accepted that l’Fel was monitoring her. She was the admiral’s only pupil. “When I attended Fleet training, and even earlier when I attended regular school, I found that starting the day with exercise assisted in maintaining a focus on the day’s lessons – “

“As well as sharpening your appetite for firstmeal?”

Varan laughed along with her. “Yes. These first lessons have been very interesting,” she said. The lessons centered around the origins of Imperial Fleet strategy, deriving from the age when Gwath ka-shlal was the only home the Kashlani knew. The Unification, pitting the nascent Empire against an ever-shifting alliance of rival sovereignties, had seen rapid advances in technology and the use of that technology.

L'Fel gestured comprehension and approval. “And do you have any insights?”

“It was interesting to see that the tactics Fleet Commander b’Vat used against the Terran force that attacked the Home derived from strategies used against the Alliance fleets during the Unification.”

“Very good,” the Admiral said approvingly. “You learn fast. Soon you will begin simulations to understand those strategies in greater detail, and you will be expected to improve upon them.” She paused to take a sip of her drink. “For now, let us eat and relax before the next lesson.”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

After firstmeal, Varan found a series of questions associated with the first set of lessons already uploaded to her padd.